By John “Jack” Fox, North American Aviation Field Service Dept., and John Fredrickson
This story first ran in the February 2019 issue of Warbirds.
John “Jack” Fox (1910-1970) was a North American Aviation (NAA) field service representative specializing in B-25 aircraft. He stood 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed 140 pounds — just the right size for working or traveling in a B-25. He was aboard the first formation of four B-25s as they left Hamilton Field (near San Francisco) on February 28, 1942. Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego held the contract to ferry the aircraft, which bore U.S. Air Corps markings but actually belonged to the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) air force.
The first leg was to Hickam Field near Honolulu, Hawaii, with other island stops to follow. The aircraft safely arrived in Brisbane, Australia. Both Fox and the NEI aircraft were soon commandeered by Col. “Big Jim” Davies and ferried to a secret northern Australia forward operating base at Charters Towers, the temporary home of the 3rd Aerial Attack Group (3 AAG). The town was a dusty wild-west cattle town. Local ranchers contributed to the war effort by butchering a steer once a week and barbequing beef for the troops.
Paul I. “Pappy” Gunn was one of the unsung heroes of World War II. He was commissioned in the Philippines (where he was an expatriate pilot for the local airline) as a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps on December 8, 1941. Gunn rose to lieutenant colonel by war’s end. The young troops called him “Pappy” because of his advanced age — over 40. Few knew that Gunn was actually retired from the U.S. Navy in 1937 as a skilled (but rare) enlisted pilot. Later and separately, Fox and Gunn, under the sponsorship of 5th Air Force Cmdr. Gen. George Kenney, field-installed fixed .50-caliber guns in the B-25. The following is Fox’s account of the installation.
Some dissention was being expressed by the combat pilots about the B-25 aircraft’s frontal protection from the Japanese fighter aircraft. The peashooter .30-caliber gun up front wasn’t heavy enough, and it sure didn’t scare the Japanese fighters any at all. Japanese pilots were making frontal attacks on B-25 aircraft with impunity and getting in telling blows. We got busy to try and correct this situation.
I received permission to remove the bombardier’s nose section from the wrecked B-25 reposing under the trees on the base. I removed the section and had it moved over to a gully facing a sandy bank. Here, I experimented with the installation of a .50-caliber flexible gun. I found some sheet material around the 35th Service Group welding tent from which I made a parallel rectangular frame. This I installed in the general position of the old .30-caliber gun position, pivoting the frame on its short ends to allow it to rotate on the lateral axis with the gun. The curved metal frames had to be braced somehow, I felt, to withstand the kick of the gun, because I attached the ends of the gun frame to these curved frames. A larger hole was cut in the Plexiglas to allow as much circular travel of the gun barrel as possible. The gun barrel could be pivoted between the long parallels of the gun frame thus allowing the desired flexibility of the gun. I used about 3/4-inch ID steel tubing for the fore and aft brace members.
The bracing didn’t appear sufficient enough to Pappy Gunn and the others, but I felt it was more than enough and I didn’t want to put too much in this area so as not to cause interference and restrict the movements of the gunner and his gun, so I did not change the installation; however, Pappy instructed Sgt. Jack Evans to remove two large sections of longerons from the old B-25 wreck. He was planning, I believe, to install these after my braces folded up.
I never handled a .50-caliber gun, but back in my mind I was hoping to convince Sgt. Mitchell, who was a big, broad-shouldered, powerful-looking character, to test fire my installation. I felt if something did fail or I figured wrong, this guy was strong enough to manhandle the gun and hold it under control. I didn’t expect him to refuse my request.
The installation was completed, only I hadn’t yet figured out a way to cover the hole in the Plexiglas through which the gun barrel protruded. This was a problem. Bill Hood, the 3rd Group Armament officer was greatly interested in the installation, and he kept encouraging me to go ahead with it; also, he felt that I could come up with a fix to cover the gun barrel hole in the Plexiglas.
Finally, all was in readiness to fire the gun and check the installation, so I approached Sgt. Mitchell with the request for him to test fire the gun, but lo and behold, he bowed out. He told me, “It’s your baby, you do it. Those two slim braces don’t look strong enough to me.” Here I was, right in the middle again, so come what may, I would do it.
I took my place behind the gun, which was already armed with ammunition and picked up the aft end of it to position the barrel toward the bank. I pressed the trigger very lightly at first hoping to shoot a round or two only so as to get the feel of the gun. My audience stood on both sides of me watching and soon someone spouted off, “Come on, Jack, give it a good, long burst. What’s wrong, are you scared?” No, I wasn’t scared, but I didn’t want that gun breaking loose and coming back into my chest or face. Damn it, I would prove my installation was all right or come out of this birdcage with a broken arm (or something), so on my next try I held the trigger down awhile longer, shooting a burst of probably 10 or more slugs — and everything held its place, and stayed put.
After this, I became more confident so I let loose with a good long burst. This .50-caliber gun sure could spit out the slugs on rapid fire. Col. Davies decided he’d like to try it, so I exited and the colonel tried out the installation. He approved of it and gave us the go-ahead to make the installation in the combat-ready aircraft.
I still had the problem of devising some means to cover over the hole in the front piece of Plexiglas as this hole would have to be covered over otherwise a strong blast of air would be entering the airplane at this point. This would make it difficult and most uncomfortable to the bombardier/gunner. Pappy Gunn suggested that we use a ball-socket something similar to the .30-caliber gun barrel installation. This would solve the problem all right, but where could we get the ball made or machined?
Col. Davies instructed Pappy Gunn to take the gun parts down to Brisbane and have a number of them made up and also to get the ball-sockets made somewhere, if he could. Pappy took off in a B-25 and was gone for several days, but when he returned he had all the necessary parts and the ball-sockets also with him. So, now the flexible .50-caliber ball socket gun installation could be made in the combat B-25 aircraft.
The ball-sockets fabricated for Pappy by the Brisbane machine shop worked out fine. They were easily adaptable for the flexible .50-caliber nose gun installation. The arrival of the parts was a big relief to Bill Hood, the group armament officer.
Author’s note: The writings of John “Jack” Fox were found in NAA files. Field service representatives were expected to maintain constant correspondence with the home office. Fox’s notes, photographs, and drawings were used by the factory to increase the firepower for aircraft still on the production line.